Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 Review
Miles shines in a story grounded in Brooklyn, with characters old and new you’ll love, even as the story suffers from some pacing problems.
I finished off Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 from my weekly comics haul. Overall, it’s a good but not great comic. I am still interested to see where the series goes from here.
First up, the art is gorgeous. There are so many great looking pages and panels throughout. Action and characters alike are so well drawn.
The characters themselves might be the best part of the story. Miles feels like a teenager. He's got his friend group, his superhero family, and his real family. I love how the issue is grounded in Miles's return to Brooklyn as his home base, too.
The story does have some pacing issues for a single-issue comic, though.
Take this exchange between Miles and new student—and potential love interest—Valentina. There's this weird interaction over eye color that doesn't play well in a comic. This might have worked better in a film. For a comic, it had me wanting to reach for my phone to better understand whatever this eye condition is.
It's not just this example alone. The story also ends oddly coming out of a flashback scene, which is again beautifully rendered. I think this book was just trying to do too much in its 25 pages of story.
Summary
There is a lot of promise here. The art sings. That cast of characters is chef’s kiss! I will stick with the series to see if the pacing improves over the next couple issues. It's a good start, and I could see this one growing on me with time.